Ex-Chicago detective gets 8 years in fatal '09 DUI crash

Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune

Maria Velez, left, mother of Fausto Manzera, describes her disappointment in the sentencing of Joseph Frugoli, the former Chicago police officer that killed her son and Andrew Cazares on the Dan Ryan Expressway, while driving intoxicated.

Maria Velez, left, mother of Fausto Manzera, describes her disappointment in the sentencing of Joseph Frugoli, the former Chicago police officer that killed her son and Andrew Cazares on the Dan Ryan Expressway, while driving intoxicated. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)

Jason MeisnerTribune reporter

A former Chicago police detective was sentenced to 8 years in prison Friday evening for causing a fiery wreck on the Dan Ryan Expressway in 2009 that killed two men and then fleeing the scene.

Joseph Frugoli, who was an 18-year veteran of the force working as a homicide detective at the time of his arrest, was convicted of aggravated DUI and leaving the scene of an accident in the deaths of Andrew Cazares, 23, and Fausto Manzera, 21, a DePaul University student.

Frugoli was taken into custody to begin serving his sentence. His lawyers asked that he be placed in protective custody in Cook County Jail. He has been free on bond since shortly after his arrest near the crash scene early on the morning of April 10, 2009.

Manzera’s mother sobbed and screamed following the sentencing. She contended Frugoli didn’t get a longer sentence because he had been a Chicago police officer. “It’s not fair! It’s not fair!” she wailed.

Prosecutors said Frugoli had been drinking at a nearby tavern and his blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit when he slammed his Lexus SUV into the back of the victims' car, which was disabled on the expressway near Roosevelt Road.

Cazeres and Manzera were trapped inside their crumpled vehicle as it burst into flames. Meanwhile, Frugoli was helped out of his own car by a good Samaritan and was later seen limping down an off-ramp away from the wreck. He was arrested on foot a short time later at Roosevelt Road and Clinton Street, prosecutors said.

Frugoli pleaded guilty in September to aggravated DUI charges but denied intentionally leaving the scene, saying he was physically injured and disoriented by the crash.

Cook County Judge Charles Burns convicted him of that charge after a short bench trial.

Frugoli had been stripped of police powers after the wreck. He resigned from the department earlier this year.